Unlikely Allies
by klutzysunshine
Summary: Spoilers and speculation for "Afterlife". Coulson turns to an unlikely ally for help in taking down "real" SHIELD.


**I don't own Agents of SHIELD nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.**

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Not long after Lance showed up, Grant and Kara strolled up to the bar to greet him and Phil. "Took you long enough," the director muttered.

Lance looked back and forth between them in confusion. "What?"

"Get with the program, cowboy. Coulson helped in my escape and I've been working with him all this time to bring down Hydra." Grant's grin didn't reach his eyes but no one called him on it. He was so tired and just wanted to relax but knew what needed to be done.

Lance scowled at the nickname but chose not to say anything because he was angrier about other more important shit. "So this is our little team?"

"As soon as we're able to contact the others, we'll regroup." Phil looked over at Grant and Kara. "So you got her her face back. Nice to meet you, Agent…"

"Palamas. My name is Kara Lynn Palamas." Unlike the others, Kara's smile was genuine. She looked forward to bringing down Hydra (and "real" SHIELD, whatever that meant) once and for all.

Grant ordered a drink from the bartender and then found a seat. "So what's the plan?"

"Haven't figured that out yet. That's why we're enjoying ourselves here, Ward." Coulson turned to look at him to question him on several topics he needed answers for. "Your family?"

"Safe and sound at one of my safe houses, probably driving each other up the fucking wall. I'm enjoying the thought of their probable misery." He wanted to contact Thomas and Rose to check up on them but figured they wanted nothing to do with him. Why would they? He was the family fuck-up after all. Grant decided to answer Coulson's unasked questions too."The guy I found to fix Kara's face threatened to talk so I had to take care of him. And Talbot's men? I used the knife that makes it appear like someone is dead. I'm sure he got quite a surprise."

"Good to know." Phil signaled for another drink after Grant downed his. "The agency is in trouble again and I need help from all of you if we're going to stop Gonzalez in his tracks. I'm grateful to have you three on my side."

"We sure are a ragtag bunch." Lance was unsure if he could face Bobbi again without getting pissed. The betrayal bubbled at the surface, along with hurt at her choosing "real" SHIELD over him. But he was past being surprised and was done with her permanently. He had to be.

"What's good?" Kara questioned, surprising them all as she looked between the three of them.

"Oh, you're in for a treat," Lance promised.

"No corrupting her," Grant warned. He couldn't help but worry and (over)protect her. He wanted to make sure Kara didn't get hurt again.

Lance stared at him, unimpressed. "That wasn't a very good threat, mate. I'm not even scared."

"You should be," Kara sing-songed, causing Phil and Grant to snort.

"So how long are we going to stick around here and feel sorry for ourselves?" Grant was itching to start and help as much as he could.

"Not very long. We lost contact with Skye and Melinda was ready to rip someone apart last I talked to her. I don't blame her but I had to wait for you three." Phil wished he was actually on vacation right now and not dealing with this shit.

Grant stiffened at Skye's name. "She's in danger?" He convinced himself that he didn't love her anymore but that was pretty far from the truth. The shooting had just been a wake-up call for him and while it hurt that she didn't love him (which wasn't a surprise considering no one ever had), he accepted it. "What the fuck are we still doing here?"

Phil''s own panic about his surrogate daughter being missing in action bubbled to the surface again but he temporarily pushed it away. "Ward, we'll find her. If they had her, we would know by now and Skye is resourceful. I trust her. And her powers will help her, I'm hoping." He was terrified she'd hurt herself again but wasn't giving into the hopelessness of the situation or he'd fall apart, something he couldn't afford to do at the moment.

Grant did a double take at that since he hadn't heard anything about that before. He knew about Trip's death and had mourned the other specialist but that had been it. "Powers?"

"She can cause earthquakes."

"Blew out the windows and everything. Impressive," chimed in Lance after gulping down yet another drink.

"We don't need you drunk for this," Phil scolded.

"Can we go now?" Kara wondered as she eyed the three men skeptically. She liked the beach and wanted to spend some more time here but they had more pressing matters to deal with. Maybe later? Hopefully.

Phil finished his drink and stood up, the others following suit. "We need a plan. Anybody have any ideas?"

"We should talk once we get to your room. You did get a hotel room, right?" Grant didn't want to have to worry about checking in, especially since his heart was pounding with fear about Skye's safety (Kara too, but it was a different kind of fear).

Kara stumbled and nearly went down but Lance grabbed her to keep her upright. She flinched at the contact before pulling herself together. "Thank you."

"No problem. I'm Lance Hunter."

"Nice to meet you, Lance." Kara yawned and Grant slowed to a standstill until she passed him so he could watch and make sure nothing else happened.

After sitting down on the bed (and Lance broke into the mini-fridge to drink some more), the four of them started to talk to figure out what their next step should be. "Cowboy, you want to slow down so you don't kill one of us out there?" a frustrated Grant questioned after he grabbed another bottle from the fridge.

"I'm functioning so don't you worry about me." He'd most likely sober up by the time they got to their destination anyway.

"I'm worried about myself."

"And me." Kara beamed and tried to look happy when everyone turned to gaze at her, feeling self-conscious about her scars. She touched her hair to try to calm down and sighed in relief when it worked.

"And you." Grant knew she needed some help (as did he) but that unfortunately wasn't possible right now. He felt guilty because Kara needed someone better than him to look up to him. He wasn't well-adjusted at all and she'd hate him too if he knew who he was before. But at least this was him working hard to try to redeem himself even though Grant didn't think it was ever actually going to happen. He deserved to suffer for everything he did. But now was not the time to fall apart because they had to concentrate on "real" SHIELD.

"You're going good care of her," Phil whispered. "I'm proud of you, Grant."

That startled him. "Thank you?" Grant didn't know what to say to that so he ignored it and they went back to talking (fighting) about where to get weapons.

Phil took a break to calm down and talk to Melinda to see if she had found FitzSimmons yet (she hadn't) and when he came back, he found Grant, Kara, and Lance getting along just fine. "What happened while I was gone?"

"We know exactly what to do now!" Kara laughed excitedly and wished she could lie down on the bed and nap before they implemented their plan.

"Fantastic! Then let's get the fuck out of dodge and save our family and SHIELD." Phil shrugged when they all stared at him.

Nobody working for the other SHIELD was expecting it when Grant kicked down the door to another secret base. Kara shot out the lights for dramatic effect (Lance high-fived her). The four of them meant business and they weren't about to back down nor would "real" SHIELD escape unscathed.


End file.
